Shishiwakamaru
' Shishiwakamaru' (死々若丸), known as Shishi Wakamaru in the English dub is a demon that participated in the Dark Tournament. A former member and the poster-boy of Team Uraotogi, he is now Yusuke's ally. He is loosely based off of the half historical, half legendary sōhei (僧兵''literally "monk warrior"?) '''Saitō Musashibō Benkei', popularly''' named in folklore as '''Benkei,' '''and in Ukyio-e paintings he is called '''Oniwakamaru '(鬼若?).' Appearance Shishi's real form is a tiny imp with two horns on the sides of his forehead and grimacing teeth. However, most of the time he adopts a human appearance, similar to a samurai in clothing as he wears a white, male kimono and large, light blue pants with a red sash. His hair is of a violet-blue shade, long and is tied in a loose ponytail with two strands of his bangs sticking straight up before falling back down to frame his face. His hair also forms a widow's peak and the rest of his bangs are parted equally on both sides of his face. When he occasionally gets angry or excited, he shows partial traits of his true form, such as horns and fangs. He is also, quite handsome and attractive as he takes on a teenage or young adult appearance, which made him very popular with demon women. Personality During his time in the fighting ring or in front of large crowds, Shishiwakamaru would present himself as a calm and charismatic young man, as a means of attracting as many admirers as possible, or "pleasing the public" as he puts it. It is explained that Shishi's only reason for participating in the tournament was a means of becoming famous. To do this he was willing to fight Toguro. He was also prone to mocking his opponents and even intimidating them by revealing his horns and fangs. Shishi directly swears to Urameshi, that he shall make him eat his spiteful words and calls Kuwabara a loser and says he's ugly to his face. No less then his other team mates, Shishi was arrogant and overconfident in his own strength. But despite his arrogant, almost pompous behaviour towards his colleagues and adversaries, Shishiwakamaru was in fact the only true fighter in Team Uraotogi. Genkai remarks that Shishi was far more powerful than Suzuki ever was. He is ruthless in all his battles, but also logical. Shishi only used his Cape of no Return against Kuwabara, knowing that he was weaker than him. But against opponents such as Genkai and the A to S rank participants of the Makai Tournament, he strictly resorted to his demon katana, to insure any chance of a possible victory. While fighting Genkai in the tournament, Shishiwakamaru seemed to lack any code of honor, seemingly improvising his moments in which he attacked. But in truth, Shishi was smart enough to understand that fighting is not something to laugh about. One must never forget his own reasons for fighting and must never show any signs of weakness. Genkai approves of this, as she claims that she herself is neither good nor evil but merely following her own ambitions. Her honest words ended up touching the demons heart. Shishi admits that in their fight he had developed romantic affections for the old woman and stating that if she was fifty years younger he might of had a chance with her, with Genkai quipping, "Well, aren't I a lucky one." Synopsis Dark Tournament Saga Shishi conducted a new way to decide what team members would fight in the semi-finals. He would role two dice, each face having a different members name, with a free space for the team to choose who would go. Shishi steps up to fight Kuwabara, whom he defeats in one turn using the cape of no return. Afterwards, he rolls the dice and chooses to fill in for a free space, and Hiei steps up to take the missing Masked Fighter's place. However, she shows up last second and decides to fight. Shishi, angered that the mystery of her mask is hiding him from the spotlight, decides to remove it. Everyone is sent into turmoil when they see an aging woman rather than the young girl they had before. Shishi attempts to have her disqualified, but the committee rules it fair. Nobody understands why, until the Younger Toguro announces that she is indeed the human psychic Genkai and her technique was able to halt and temporarily reverse her aging. Continuing the fight, Shishi uses the chorus of a thousand souls to nearly destroy the audience. Genkai is left running around the stadium, avoiding his attacks. But just as Shishi tries to kill her, Genkai reflects the energy released by the sword back at him, rendering the technique useless. Shishi reveals his true form, but Genkai overpowers him (and refers to him later as 'the LATE Shishiwakamaru' despite the fact that he's still alive). Three Kings Saga During the Saga of the Three Kings, Shishiwakamaru trains under Genkai along with Rinku, Chu, Touya, Jin, and Suzuka, increasing his power to A-class levels. He is later seen taking part in the Makai Tournament. Through advancing through the preliminaries, Shishiwakamaru is defeated in the main tournament by Hokushin. Items *'Darkness Item: Cape of No Return (闇アイテム･死出の羽衣, Yami Aitemu: Shide no Hagoromo, translated as Dark Item: Feathery Robe of Deathly Emergence): A clear cloak that Shishi keeps around his shoulders. It has the ability to manipulate space; anyone or anything that gets caught in it is sent to another location in the three worlds. *'Banshee Shriek Sword' (魔哭鳴斬剣, Ma Koku Mei Zan Ken, translated as Magic Killing-Wail Cutting Sword): Mutating from Suzuka's Trial Sword (試しの剣, Tameshi No Ken, translates as Sword of Trials; The Trial Sword in the English Dub) when exposed to Shishiwakamaru's energy, this weapon is fueled by the spirits of long-dead demons in order to power its attacks. With it's power, Shishiwakamaru is capable of summoning the souls of long since past demons, using these as either projectiles or even materializing them into barriers. Techniques/Moves *'Shrill Call of the Reaper': By rapidly spinning his sword, a horrible sounding wail is emitted from the Banshee Shriek Sword. According to Shishi, those too weak to resist the song will have their souls stolen. *'Chorus of a Thousand Skulls' (爆吐髑触葬, Baku Tō Doku Shoku Sō, translated as Vomiting Explosive Skull Ramming Burial): By hitting the ground with the reddening blade of the Banshee Shriek Sword, Shishiwakamaru can summon hundreds maybe even thousands of ghoulish spirits of long since dead demons, in order to surround the battle area. They don't discriminate and will destroy anything in their path. At the end of Shishiwakamaru's battle with Genkai, he summoned the ghoulish spirits through the ghoulish face of the sword. After his training with Genkai, he learns a more powerful version of this technique called Chorus of Ten Thousand Skulls. *'Cage of Hell' (怨呼障縛壁'', On Ko Shō Baku Heki'', translated as Binding Shield Wall of Resentful Shouting): Shishiwakamaru uses the Banshee Shriek Sword to create a cage of demon souls to trap his opponent. He's able to freely pass through the cage to attack, but his opponent is unable to pass. References Trivia *In the original Japanese dialogue from the manga, during Shishiwakamaru's fight against Genkai, he claims to have actually met the historical figure Saitō Musashibō Benkei. He simply refers to him as the "famous Benkei" and states that once he saw the Banshee Shriek's true form, Benkei had walked away from the fight. But considering that most of Team Uraotogi's members had had a fairy tail motif, Shishi might of been lying in order to frighten Genkai. *Similarities between Shishiwakamaru and Benkei: #Both have samurai clothing and weaponry. Although Benkei had both a katana and a naginata, Shishi's sword could lengthen itself into a naginata, making him have two weapons in one. #A demonic appearance that is recognizable do to their dark, unkempt hair and large fangs. #Both of them are master swordsmen. #The name Shishiwakamaru, meaning "demon lion child" is a spoof to Benkei's popular title of Oniwakamaru, which literally translates as "demon ogre child". *It is possible that Shishi's Cage of Hell technique might reference his own name. The word maru can be translated as either ward or castle wall, and Shishi's technique slightly resembles a courtyard's walls. *Contrary to popular belief, Shishiwakamaru and the other 5 fighters recruited for Yomi are not A Class Demons and are actually S Class. This is proven as Shachi, Hokushin and Kiri, S Class Makai Generals have Rei-Ki of 36,000-89,500 while Jin, Chu, Toya, Shishiwakamaru, Suzuka and Rinku all have Rei-Ki of over 100,000. Category:Characters Category:Demons